Faction Before Blood
by Host100
Summary: Continued from Allegiant- What if Tris didn't really die? What if somebody was messing with all the data? When Marcus grows out of hand, all he wants is power. Four is the only one who can hand that over to him. Will he risk all the cities lives for the one he loves? Rated T to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue **

**A/N: THIS CHAPTER IS FROM VERONICA ROTH'S WORK- ALL RIGHTS GO TO HER. THIS IS SIMPLY TO LEAD THE STORY IN, AND I CHOSE TO HAVE A DIFFERENT ENDING TO THIS STORY. THIS IS ON PAGE 470. THE STORY WILL CHANGE FROM HERE! **

**THIS IS ALSO A PROJECT THAT I AM WORKING ON WITH ANOTHER, SO THE MORE REVIEWS I GET, THE MORE I WILL WORK ON THIS INSTEAD OF THE OTHER.**

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"**How did you inoculate yourself against the death serum?" he asks me. **

**He's still sitting in his wheelchair, but you don't need to be able to walk to fire a gun. I blink at him, still dazed. **

"**I didn't", I say. **

"**Don't be stupid", David says. "You can't survive the death serum without an inoculation, and I'm the only person in the compound who possesses that substance". **

**I just stare at him, not sure what to say. I didn't inoculate myself. The fact that I'm still standing upright is impossible. There's nothing more to add. **

"**I suppose it no longer matters", he says. "We're here now". **

"**What are you doing here?" I mumble. **

**My lips feel awkwardly large, hard to talk around. I still feel that oily heaviness on my skin, like death is clinging to me even though I have defeated it. I am dimly aware that I left my own gun in the hallway behind me, sure I wouldn't need it if I made it this far. **

"**I knew something was going on", David says. "You've been running around with genetically damaged people all week, Tris, did you think I wouldn't notice?" He shakes his head. "And then your friend Cara was caught trying to manipulate the lights, but she very wisely knocked herself out before she could tell us anything. So I came here, just in case. I'm sad to say I'm not surprised to see you". **

"**You came here alone?" I say. "Not very smart, are you?" **

**His bright eyes squint a little. "Well you see, I have death serum resistance and a weapon, and you have no way to fight me. There's no way you can steal four virus devices while I have you at gunpoint. I' afraid you've come all this way for no reason, and it will be at the expense of your life. The death serum may not have killed you, but I am going to. I'm sure you understand- officially we don't allow capital punishment, but I can't have you surviving this". **

**He thinks I'm here to steal the weapons that will reset the experiments, not deploy one of them. Of course he does. **

**I try to guard my expression, though I'm sure it's still slack. I sweep my eyes across the room, searching for the device that will release the memory serum virus. I was there when Matthew described it to Caleb in painstaking detail earlier: a black box with a silver keypad, marked with a strip of blue tape with a model number written on it. It is one of the only items on the counter along the left wall, just a few feet away from me. But I can't move, or else he'll kill me. **

**I'll have to wait for the right moment, and do it fast. **

"**I know what you did", I say. I start to back up, hoping that the accusation will distract him. "I know you designed the attack stimulation. I know you're responsible for my parents' deaths- for my **_**mother's **_**death. I know". **

"**I am not responsible for her death!" David says, the words bursting from him, too loud and too sudden. "I **_**told **_**her what was coming just before the attack began, so she had enough time to escort her loved ones to a safe house. If she had stayed put, she would have lived. But she was a foolish woman who didn't understand making sacrifices for the greater good, and it **_**killed **_**her!" **

**I frown at him. There's something about his reaction- about the glassiness of his eyes- something that he mumbled when Nita shot him with the fear serum- something about **_**her**_**. **

"**Did you love her?" I say. "All those years she was sending you correspondence . . . the reason you never wanted her to stay there . . . the reason you told her you couldn't read her updates anymore, after she married my father . . ." **

**David sits still, like a statue, like a man of stone. **

"**I did", he says. "But that time is past". **

**That must be why he welcomed me into his circle of trust, why he gave me so many opportunities. Because I am a piece of her, wearing her hair and speaking with her voice. Because he has spent his life grasping at her and coming up with nothing. **

**I hear footsteps in the hallway outside. The soldiers are coming. Good- I need them to. I need them to be exposed to the airborne serum, to pass it on to the rest of the compound. I hope they wait until the air is clear of death serum. **

"**My mother wasn't a fool", I say. "She just understood something you didn't. That it's not sacrifice if it's someone **_**else's **_**life you're giving away, it's just evil". **

**I back up another step and say, "She taught me all about real sacrifice. That it should be done from love, not misplaced disgust for another person's genetics. That it should be done from necessity, not without exhausting all other options. That it should be done for people who need your strength because they don't have enough of their own. That's why I need to stop you from 'sacrificing' all those people and their memories. Why I need to rid the world of you once and for all". **

**I shake my head. **

"**I didn't come here to steal anything, David". **

**I twist and lunge toward the device. The gun goes off and pain races through my body. I don't even know where the bullet hit me. **

**I can still hear Caleb repeating the code for Matthew. With a quaking hand I type in the numbers on the keypad. **

**The gun goes off again. More pain, and black edges on my vision, but I hear Caleb's voice speaking again. **_**The green button.**_

**So much pain. But how, when my body feels so numb? **

**I start to fall, and slam my hand into the keypad on my way down. A light turns on behind the green button. I hear a beep, and a churning sound. **

**I slide to the floor. I feel something warm on my neck, and under my cheek. Red. Blood is a strange colour. **

**Dark. **


	2. Chapter 1 (Part 2)

**Chapter 1 **

**A/N: Thanks to the guest for the review- again, the bold is VERONICA ROTH'S WRITING- Still introducing the story form where I left off and decided to change most things. All rights go to Veronica Roth. No copyright infringements intended. The more reviews I get, the more I will work on this story. **

**Also, sorry about the cover image, but my account has frozen on the image section and at the moment, will not allow me to change it. I will ASAP. **

**Tris POV **

My head throbs painfully as all the blood left in my body rushes to the top end of my body, making me feel like I'm a faucet about to burst. Each cell strikes a nerve on its unforgettable journey, shudders rocking through my body as the pinpricks jab into my skin. I can't bear to visualise what my appearance has come to be. It is simply too torturous. I can feel the sweat beading on my forehead, and the hair sticking there like it is being attracted- like magnets. The force behind is irresistible.

The pressure squeezing my body inside out is pure agony, and the walls of blackness are closing in on me briskly. I can't tell whether my eyelids are open or closed, although my best guess is that they are sealed tightly shut, blocking out the images before me. The difference in brightness is like a blindfold, and I can barely see anything. If only I had it in me to fight for just a little longer. Anyhow, there is not much time left. I can already tell.

To my surprise, strong grubby hands catch my head before I can smash my skull into the ground. The hands are not gentle, and are certainly not a pair I recognised. This was definitely not a good sign. It only meant that I was going to die much more painfully. What else could they want? Aside from me dead, I don't see the point either way. I am already dying. Why can't they let me endure my last moments alone, in what little elements of peace that I could manage to summon? Is that really too much to ask?

Seconds pass. Then minutes. Still no change. The time whipping by me no longer bears any meaning. The unfamiliar hands laid me on the floor, pressing down on my forehead, enforcing me to stay down. That is useless really. Even if they weren't restraining me, where would I summon the strength to move?

My legs and arms droop limply, and I promptly lose control of my own body. My senses are foreign to me, and I can't move a single muscle. Maybe this was death. Imprisonment from my own materials. Such joy.

Just as I think that I have finally began to fade away, I feel a needle breaking the surface of my skin, -plunging deep down into my arm. The liquid that travels into my body unexpectedly causes me to gag, repulsed by the sickly feeling of the cold needle. With my elbows and knees bent wildly in all directions, I lose consciousness, lost and drowning in the inky blackness which claimed me. Whether this is actually death, or just another rouse, I only hope that I can resist the serum… or is it already too late?

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**Tobias POV**

As the wind rushes past my face, I resist the urge to brush my hair out of my eyes, letting it roam wherever it pleases. Usually this would bother me. However, not today. Today is a day of which I have conquered our greatest mission- The city. Evelyn and Johanna had come to agreement terms, and thanks to everyone, Genetically Damaged or not, we have succeeded in our mission of saving the experiments. From here, things are only going to grow better- I am sure.

For one thing, it means that I am going to see Tris again. I have missed her, and her grief is bound to be paralysing her. I can't quite predict how she had been coping after Caleb…

I am going to have to avoid that topic for now. I don't want to strike a nerve with Tris around. I only wish that I can prepare myself for what is coming, good or bad. Since I do not possess the ability to predict the future, I remain clueless. Hopefully matters will prove positive, although I can never be sure.

I had previously witnessed and spotted the glint of anger in Marcus' eyes when he had been denied the leader of the people. He had seemed so determined… so sure…

Something had stirred up in his brain- I have lived through his anger and pain as a child. I know when something bad is about to be thrown at me, quick or slow. I am beginning to feel that familiar feeling bubbling up inside of me again. Something isn't right… something…

**Christina leans forward to whisper into my ear. "So you did it? It worked?" **

**I nod. In the rearview mirror I see her touch her face with both hands, grinning into her palms. I know how she feels: safe. We are all safe. **

I only wish that I could rid myself of this uneasy feeling that shakes me every now and then. _I am sure everything will be fine… Tris is fine… our plan worked…_

I repeat these words over and over in my mind, indenting the words into my brain. Hopefully if they will remain there, then I will be able to believe their wise words.

"**Did you inoculate your family?" I say. **

"**Yep. We found them with the Allegiant, in the Hancock building", she says. "But the time for the reset has passed- it looks like Tris and Caleb stopped it". **

**Hana and Zeke murmur to each other on the way, marvelling at the strange, dark world we move through. Amar gives the basic explanation as we go, looking back at them instead of the road far too often for my comfort. **

**I try to ignore my surges of panic as he almost veers into streetlights or road barriers, and focus instead on the snow. I have always hated the emptiness that winter brings, the blank landscape and the stark difference between sky and ground, the way it transforms trees into skeletons and the city into wasteland. **

**Maybe this winter I can be persuaded otherwise. We drive past the fences and stop by the front doors, which are no longer manned by guards. We get out, and Zeke seizes his mother's hand to steady her as she shuffles through the snow. **

**As we walk into the compound, I know for a fact that Caleb succeeded, because there is no one in sight. That can only mean that they have been reset, their memories forever altered. **

"**Where is everyone?" Amar says. **

**We walk through the abandoned security checkpoint without stopping, On the other side, I see Cara. **

**The side of her face is badly bruised, and there's a bandage on her head, but that's not what concerns me. What concerns me is the troubled look on her face. **

"**What is it?" I say. **

**Cara shakes her head.**

"**Where's Tris?" I say. **

"**I'm sorry Tobias". **

"**Sorry about what?" Christina says roughly. "Tell us what happened!"**

"**Tris went into the Weapons Lab instead of Caleb", Cara says. "She survived the death serum, and set off the memory serum, but she... she was shot. And she didn't survive. I'm so sorry". **

**Most of the time I can tell when people are lying, and this must be a lie, because Tris is still alive, her eyes bright and her cheeks flushed and her small body full of power and strength, standing in a shaft of light in the atrium. **

**Tris is still alive, she wouldn't leave me here alone, she wouldn't go into the Weapons Lab instead of Caleb. **

"**No", Christina says, shaking her head. "No way. There has to be some mistake". **

**Cara's eyes well up with tears. It's then that I realise: Of course Tris would go into the Weapons Lab instead of Caleb. Of course she would. **

**Christina yells something, but to me her voice sounds muffled, like I have submerged my head underwater. The details of Cara's face have also become difficult to see, the world smearing together into dull colors. **

**All I can do is stand still- I feel like if I just stand still, I can stop it from being true, I can pretend that everything is all right. Christina hunches over, unable to support her own grief, and Cara embraces her, and **

**All I'm doing is standing still. **

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When my eyes snap open hazily, the strong sense of regret overpowers me, the air that is drawn into my lungs sticking on the inside walls of my throat. The impact of bad air sends me gasping for air that won't choke me.

My mind is pulsing with thoughts which refuse to be ignored, no matter how strongly I will them away. They are always there.

I regret not standing by Tris- I never should have left her. I also regret not seeing to Marcus, as for the uneasy feeling is still lingering around me, forming a bubble around every breath.

Inhale. Exhale. I have to remember how to breathe- I have to keep my heart beating… but what is the point? Why should I even put the effort into living? Why can't I float away too, weightless, light as a feather? I want these heavy weights off my shoulders, but they will not disappear. They are crushing me, each step I take, mentally or physically, leads me closer to collapsing. Maybe that will be good- will it take the pain away?

_Tris is gone… she… _

Interrupting my line of perplexed thoughts, the lights in the unfamiliar room snap on, the bright illuminations form the bulbs blinding me, removing sight from my position. The yellow beams show dust clouding around each and every inch of the air surrounding me, tightening the walls of my throat even further.

It all feels so dramatic. I still can't work out what I had done to deserve it.

Of course, always selfish, my pupils attempt to reclaim that advantage, blinking furiously as they narrow in size.

Once my eyes focus, I take in my surroundings lifelessly, not bothering to work my way into any real details.

What is the point? If she is gone then why am I still living? How did she deserve to die whereas I did not? So many things I should have done… so much that there is still left to say, and now I can never say it, for her ears will never hear me. The sounds will not reach her. Her eyes will not spot me. Her lips will never again taste mine. When she went, she took me with her.

I am lost…

The room has pale white walls, and no windows either side, creating a wave of nausea which washed over me. It isn't a particularly large space either, which only adds to the terrorising feeling of claustrophobia. I am lying on a hard, white sheeted cot, my legs hanging over the edges of the brittle structure. I am lying cold and alone… Tris is not beside me…

What would she want me to do now? No matter how hard I think, I just can't tell. I am no sidekick, and there is no girl with short cut blonde hair to ask.

A shadow droops over me, blocking out the lights once again. This really isn't helping my eyes adjust. It is only making it worse. I want to see- I want to live… but I can't. I simply cannot.

"You awake Four?" Amar's voice booms out form above.

It is only Amar- nobody else. I can relax now… I can breathe…

I groan mutedly, my throat vibrating, tickling my insides. Even though I am awake now, I would give anything to swap the situation around. I know that I will never be able to drift off again, so why had I been woken?

The surges of anger only irritate me as I continue to overreact in my head, and I sigh in relief as I realise that my lips are clamped together, preventing any of the vile words from escaping into the air for all ears to hear.  
>I shake my head disapprovingly at Amar. "I am now".<p>

He chuckles, patting my arm in sympathy. Only I don't want him, or anyone else feeling sorry for me. It just didn't feel right. Something is still missing, like one minor piece of the truth has been hidden beyond my reach. The daunting questions still linger in my mind, although I find it impossible to seek the answers. However, if I can't find them, who can?

'Sorry to wake you', he apologises.

I shake my head again. "Yeah", I mutter sarcastically. "I really appreciate it".

I roll over onto my stomach, burying my face into the uncomfortable rock solid pillow and whish that all the images would just disappear from my memory. Nothing is ever that simple. Amar is not making things any easier.

He stretches out his bulky arms, rolling me back over to face him while I moan aloud again. I am no longer bothered about his impression of me. He can think what he likes. I no longer care.

"Wait", he urges. "You're going back to sleep? Just like that?"

"What else would I do?"

He throws out his arms in exasperation. It is obvious that he is frustrated. I don't blame him. It must seem to him like he is talking to a live corpse rather than an actual human being.

"I don't know", he says. "Don't you want answers?"

"Why would you have them?"

He shoots me a disapproving look. I know I am going out of my way to be rude, but there really is nothing that I can do to enlighten my mood. I am not exactly a delight to be around anyway. Instead of ignoring me like I first predicted, the kind of act a normal person would play out, Amar answers my question.

"Unlike you-", he rolls his eyes. "I have been sociable."

Silence in the room. Of course, he is always the first to break it.

"Rumours spread…"

Eventually I give in, still not quite sure whether the words that he is about to form are the ones that I want to hear, nor would they be any good for me. I doubted that anything could be considered 'healthy' for my system or brain anymore. In addition, had the memory serum not been spread, I would still be considered as 'Genetically Damaged'.

"Fine. Just tell me".

He shrugs. "You sure?"

I give him another straightforward answer, my voice hoarse and lifeless, much like everything else.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

He scratches his forehead, creases forming in the skin, showing signs of deep thought and concentration. I am surprised at how hard he has to wrack his brain for the words that he now needs to find.

He is trying to avoid most of the sore spots in the topic, although that is impossible. Everything that he is going to say is going to strike a nerve. It is going to be unbearable- I may even have to plug my ears.

"We know she's dead. There was a lot of blood- So much that she couldn't have possibly survived…"

I motion for him to continue with my right hand, waving him a long from where he trailed off.

_Something is wrong… Something is not right…_

"Strange thing is that we never actually found a body".

My muscles freeze in place, refusing to move as the uncalled for hits me like a slap in the face.

_Never actually found a body… but blood… so much blood… _

He halts automatically as the shudders approach again, my face flinching repetitive like a tape being re-winded over and over.

"Did I pass out?" I ask abruptly, not really concerned about the answer. I am just mildly curious.

Amar pats my knee. "Sure did".

No emotions occur- No embarrassment, no fear, and strangely enough, no more pain.

Just emptiness. Pure emptiness.

_The world is now… nothing. _

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	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Tris POV**

My body is frozen in place, paralysed with fear. My hands are trembling uncontrollably and my skin is layered with Goosebumps.

I. Am. So. Cold.

Is this what it feels like to be dead? Why has the suffering not ended yet? Why am I not free of pain?

After being dauntless, I have learnt one thing that has stuck with me after all that has happened to all of us. You stay strong, be brave, and if death confronts you, you go down fighting. Once it is all over, you will be given peace. I had not wanted to die. I had wanted to save the people that I loved, my family, friends and the innocent.

Nobody deserves to die. But now I have, and the pain is still here. Is it even possible that what I was told was all lies? It can't be true… but it is, and now the pain is going to haunt me for the rest of eternity.

Since I find it impossible to move a single muscle in my body, I simply lie still and let the darkness of this earth embrace me.

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Behind the walls of closed eyelids, I can no longer see. There will be nothing in view anyway. All I have to do is feel. I have to trust my senses. Touch, smell, taste and sound. Sight is no longer an option. And what does it feel like? It feels like slipping in and out of death. It is agony.

The world which loiters directly before my eyes and had once been so easily in reach, is no longer a lenient and perfect place. It is harder to accept this than usual. Genetically pure genes… genetically damaged genes…

Neither fact or matter makes any noticeable difference- If it even counts and remains standing as a fact anyhow. From the beginning, it had made no sense. They are only names which hold no meaning. Who we are is what matters, not how pure our genes are. In the real world, we had been feeding off lies. I can only hope that Tobias and my friends and family will break free. They are all perfect, no matter what anybody else might say. Only our opinions matter- not theirs.

When the first loads of information had been dumped onto our shoulders, we had taken each key factor in, absorbing every individual word like an innocent puppy. We had all been so obedient, Tobias, Uriah, Zeke, Christina, Caleb, Peter, Cara and I.

Now it all seems like a rouse- A huge and utter waste of both our time and our lives, and now it is too late. All that time that I have spent dithering over Genetical nonsense has ran dry, almost as if it has expired.

The statement works just as well as any- At first, I had assumed that I had time, and lots of it. Enough to spare… enough to waste… and now?

Now there is not a single fraction of it left. Tobias had been right- Sometimes I really was careless, and there is nothing now that I can do in order to replay the previous events over, no way to turn back time or regenerate more of it. All these thin shreds of hope and useless plots share one thing in common- They are all as equally helpless. And that is my doing.

_This is All. My. Fault. _

My senses have gradually dulled over the unknown periods of time that I have been here… or wherever I currently happen to be. For all I know, I could be on the other side of the planet right now and since I have lost the possession of both of my eyes, I have no way to prove my theories and suspicions neither correct, nor incorrect. Now that I am blind, all that lies before me will forever remain a mystery. It is all a matter of perplexment.

As the foggy mist- which has been holding me down, pinning me to the ground and paralyzing my body- shifts, freeing me of its numbing vapour, the strong sense of panic suddenly shifts along with the vapour, only this time, instead of drifting away from me like the rest, the impact hurls directly towards me, knocking into me with a mind blowing force which causes me to choke out in agony. Biting down on my lip hard and blocking out the screams is all that I can seem to manage.

In the same instant that the panic washes over my body, sending spasms through my body and limbs, reality also plunges back into my system, granting me a sense of foggy awareness, of which I am not sure that I am entirely ready for just yet.

In some ways, this whole messed up situation is hurtling back at me at a far too brisk pace for my liking. In my own personal opinion, I would rather have died, just then and there. That would have saved me a great deal of pain for the near future anyhow.

It also would have been safer, for both myself, and also including many others who will unfortunately cross my path in seconds, minutes, days or even years to come. Maybe I won't be myself anymore by the time comes. I could possibly be crazy by then… or dead. Both situations are quite likely. Chances are, I will just be a dead and limp body. One among many.

But I am human and I am selfish. I am also Dauntless, and If I could name another thing that the very compound had taught me back in the day which now seems like decades ago, it would be to maintain your courage- To always fight back.

The very thought seems to have the effect that I had seeked, and soon enough, I find myself over the shock of what I still couldn't seem to accept. One question is also very present and aware in the corner of my mind.

_What happened? Why am I not dead? _

Hadn't David's bullet pierced my body, tearing me in two, piece by piece? If so, then surely I shouldn't still be alive by now. Twenty- four hours must have passed, in the least, although I still feel far from rested.

Surely if there is a God up there, he should have saved me from this excruciating pain by now. Proving another theory, the answer is simple: According to my instincts, there is none. Not even the cruellest of God's would have resisted the temptation to end the torture by now- The sacrifice couldn't have been that great.

Revisiting the previous question, I debate on more possible solutions. If not? What happens then? How had the bullets, aimed so perfectly at the target which had been my heart, missed? Was that even possible? Had there never been any bullets in the first place?

That theory doesn't make any sense, for how can I then explain the loud bangs and pops that had rang through the air that night? If I had resisted the death serum in the first place, then surely that couldn't have knocked me down… so why had I fallen?

One last theory- What if the bullets had not been made to kill?

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After replaying the scene over and over from that last night with what little memory I can manage to summon, all the details have come rushing back to me. Even if it feels great to finally have my head back to myself, these details unfortunately still don't provide me with a decent and logical answer.

I have already found all there is to find- There is nothing more. I only have to hope that whatever has lugged me down here, whether human, or strangely not so, will end my seemingly worthless life quickly. The last thing I need right now is to suffer through more agony. The desire to bolt from earth is all but eating me up from the inside.

After opening my eyes, glad that I have the power to do so, I have come to meet the surroundings which reminded me strongly of my old faction- Abnegation. The room which I now lie in- or cell, rather, is similar to the homecoming memories in many ways.

Back there, everything had been dull- our clothing grey, no bright colours in sight. The cell too, is a mixture of greys and blacks, covering the floors and walls. It is tightly packed, and the only individual elements of the room are the bars concealing the outside world from my grasp. Another is the chains that bind me to the wall by my wrists, leaving me hunched over, my shoulders and elbows jutting out at unnatural angles.

From the stiffness shooting through my body, rapidly spreading in a matter of seconds, I can tell that I have remained in this uncomfortable position for quite a while, and no amount of wriggling and squirming improves my posture. To my distaste, it only seems to make the pain worse.

After drifting off, clutching hold of whatever dignity I can manage to cling onto, I awake in a slightly different situation. Everything is now dark again, my eyes once again murky. There is a distant ringing in my ears, and even though I want to cover them to block out the sound which claws at my eardrums, the request is still too much to wish for. The restraints are in control, and I am their prisoner.

After several kicks aimed at the wall and numerous yanks on the chains which bound my hands, both methods achieving nothing, I suddenly begin to hear footsteps thudding towards me. My eyes are no longer working, and my best guess is that I am either blindfolded or completely blind.

I can't imagine that either situation will help me in any way, and I don't really fancy giving up the world before me completely, although if it is just a blindfold, then at least I can actually regain the ability to see… If I am ever given that chance again, that is. Currently, that somehow doesn't prove as very likely.

The footsteps rapidly draw in closer until I can hear them tapping impatiently next to my ears. I resist the temptation to kick whoever, or whatever stands in front of me, and look up uselessly. Escape is out- There is no way to flee. The only option left is to endure whatever punishment that life has drawn upon me.

Seconds tick by, and eventually, I simply can't help myself. It seems impossible to sit here, motionless while the image of the unknown staring me in the face is so clear in my mind. A shiver travels up my spine as I consider the many possibilities.

Scrunching my face up in pain, a frown taking over my face, teeth clenched, I land a weak kick on what stands in front of me, satisfied as I listen, the sound of a heavy grunt echoing through the room. From what I can tell, it does sound human… and low, so it must be a male.

This is not good news. I have upset and angered many people in my time, and I can't think of anyone or anything that I have done to cause somebody to loathe and hate me this much. In my opinion, it is mad. They have crossed the line… it is far too extreme. If they want me dead then why won't they kill me?

Before I can manage to think up some miraculous plan which will be the ticket to get out of this dark and dim place, a strong kick lands into my side, causing me to double over, gagging. There is only so much that my weak structure can handle now, and kicking and slapping don't make the list. Anyhow, at least that seemed to prove at least one of my theories correct- whoever this was definitely hated me… and also seemed to want be dead.

Stalling, ignoring the stiffness and throbbing in my side along with the painful position that my body has somehow managed to roll into, I curse under my breath, spitting on the floor. Just as I am about to land another swing in the attackers direction, a loud familiar voice echoes through my cell.

'Enough!' It booms, the sound once again clawing at my eardrums, although this time, it is twice as bad, and for two valid reasons.

One: It is almost ten times as loud as the ringing which had plagued me before.

Two: This voice is familiar… so familiar… It holds a significant hint of…

It pains me to think of his name, but I force my way through the barrier of agony that is holding me back.

_Tobias_.

The two voices sound almost identical, so despite the parts of me which are desperately begging and praying that this could not be true, there really is only one person that this can possibly be. It is almost too easy to piece the two pieces together, although it is simply too difficult for me to accept. It just doesn't make any sense.

Confirming my suspicions, the blindfold is ripped from my eyes. There, standing directly in front of me, rubbing his leg of which I have battered, stands Marcus Eaton.

**sorry for any mistakes and sorry for the long delay. Reviews make me more motivated and I have exams. **


	4. UPDATES

Hi! Before you stop and switch this off, this is not bad news... not exactly. NEW CHAPTERS ARE ON THE WAY! BEAR WITH ME! This is all up to you for both of my stories, memories and Bleeding soul. Right now, I have finally begun writing a project of my own, explaining why my updates got slower and slower until they stopped for a while. THIS DOES NOT MEAN I AM STOPPING THE STORIES! I AM NOT QUITTING AND I WILL FINSIH BOTH!

This project is my own ideas and it is fun to write. However, if anybody is reading these stories, here is what you must do.

If I don't have many people reveiwing and therefore, people won't miss this story too much and can cope with slow updates, then that will be it.

If i DO get people asking me to continue or any old review, then I will contine quicker than I would have.

THIS IS NOT ME MOANING ABOUT REVIEWS! I am simply looking at the two options. If nobody is really reading them, it would benefit me more on writing my own project.

If these don't recieve any comments, then I think I will be writing in about three weeks time for three weeks. I am finishing school next week and I have to help looking after little kids which gives me a lot of spare time to write since my music course has been cancelled.

Let me know what you think! Sorry about the slow updates! It's up to you.

Thankyou to the amazing people who review Memories and Bleeding soul and faction before blood.


	5. We are the eyes

Hi again.

I'm not expecting anyone to reply to this since it's been a long time since I posted here and I cringe in horror at my writing.

What I wanted to mention on here was my new story. I actually wrote two full books in the time I was gone and partway through a third. They are all in their first drafts but a few people wanted me to let them know if anything I wrote in my break was available. I'm not going to post it anywhere since you can lose some rights or something that way and I have people looking at the work now and an editor interested.

If anyone wanted to give this story a read, leave me a message or review and you could read it and give me advice! Four people have read it so far and it is dystopian, so similar to the host genre, and is very much like divergent and the hunger games, although not too similar! This is my own work so if any of my old followers are still here, then let me know if you are interested!

Secondly, does anybody want another story?


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